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Lady cop slapped by male colleague for filing RTI

Filing an RTI to expose illegal stays in police quarters proved embarrassing for a woman constable, as one of the inspectors who had to vacate from the quarters as a consequence of her RTI allegedly slapped her when she was on duty at the Shivajinagar police headquarters on Saturday evening.

Constable Jayashree Mane (34), was allegedly attacked by reserve sub-inspector (RSI) Machindra Shinde on Saturday as she was guarding the gate at Shivajinagar police headquarter. Mane then went to the Shivajinagar police station to register a complaint against the RSI, but she was not entertained by her own department. After a wait of two long hours, her complaint was noted down, and the police registered a non-cognisable offence against Shinde.

Mane has filed over 200 RTIs in three years. She said, “I want corruption to be uprooted from the city. When I joined the department, I noticed there is more corruption in my own backyard. I needed to collect some evidence to back my claims before approaching the seniors, so I started using Right to Information (RTI) as a tool to siphon out information about how many housing societies are meant for policemen, duration and their allotted staying duration. I also received information about encroachment of illegal hawkers and stalls in our locality and had them removed.

Earlier also, I would get threatening calls to stop me from filing RTIs. But to remove corruption from my own system is my mission.”

Mane recalls, “Under RTI, I found that some police officers steal electricity, and encroach houses. On Saturday, Shinde who was in dress in civil clothes walked up to me, as I saluted him, he asked me if I filed the RTI. I nodded in affirmation. Shinde then came closer and slapped me. I could sense that he was under the influence of alcohol”
She went on, “I approached the police station to registered the complaint. In the meantime RSI Shinde made a diary note that I was not wearing a cap, due to which he cursed me. My own department took two hours to take cognisance of my complain.”

Inspector (Crime) Seema Mehendale who is investigating the case said, “The nature of offence is of non-cognisable. We are probing the case. RSI Shinde medical has been done and we are yet to get the report from doctor that he was under the influence of alcohol or not.”

City police commissioner Satish Mathur said, “I will inquire about the incident. It is quite a shock. I do not understand why a lady police constable was slapped by another police officer. We Will probe the issue.”